The Early Modern Period

1600s.  The Scientific Revolution. Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei contribute to the heliocentric theory. Galileo makes science mathematical. Isaac Newton formulates the universal law of gravity, and with it classical mechanics. William Harvey gives a mechanistic account of the human circulatory system. Scientific societies and journals are established.

1700s.  The Age of Reason (the Enlightenment). Science proceeds apace: Antoine Lavoisier founds chemistry, James Hutton founds geology, Carolus Linnaeus founds systematic taxonomy for the natural history of macroorganisms, Antony van Leeuwenhoek founds microbiology, Adam Smith founds economics... America and France undergo political revolutions.

1805.  In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor and attempts to conquer Europe. The Holy Roman Empire dissolves, and an official link to the Dark Ages is severed.